Don't go in the deep water unless you can swim

You don't want to own a bunch of equipment unless you can repair it.   Nobody can afford to take their tractor, implement, tool, system, whatever to a retail repair place every time something breaks.  Recently, due to the weather clearing for at least a few hours, I decided to use my tractor mounted wood chipper to chop up some small branches and limbs that I had trimmed from trees surrounding the area close to the house.  We use the wood chips as mulch and as ground cover in the garden area and a few more spots around the farm.  Here's the set up.

So I'm chipping away and there is a rod which is attached to the feed roller which allows the operator to raise the feed roller from outside the feeder chute. Obviously this is the only safe way to clear a jamb in the feeder.  So this rod breaks free at the weld where it attaches to the feed roller mechanism.  Did I mention that this is a Chinese designed and manufactured chipper?  Not my first problem with quality but the only chipper I could afford in this size.

So back into the shop to effect repair.  I have a small MIG welder that has paid for itself just doing little repairs like this.  I grind the area where the parts will be (re) joined in order to have clean surfaces.  Had to be creative with a couple of clamping pliers in order to hold the parts in place.

Parts joined.  Weld isn't the prettiest but should hold.  But wait there is more.

In order to prevent a future failure I added a short brace to the handle rod.  Made these two braces from 1/8" steel that I had laying around the shop.  Welded one on each side and back in business.

Fun & Healthful Dog Food from Kitchen Scraps

For all of you who have asked us for advice on feeding their pets, I wish we could.  We are not experts in animal nutrition, so all we can talk about is what we do for our little muttlets!

In short, we mainly feed raw and organic selections made from beef, chicken, turkey and occasionally bison.  We buy from a local manufacturer, and keep it frozen until we’re ready to feed The Skids. 

Chicken/Turkey Gourmet Blend

But this can be expensive!  So what we also do is save our cooking scraps and make homemade meals from fresh, wholesome people food.  Here’s how: 

• First, no grains (wheat, barley, oats, corn, rice, etc.), no potato or sweet potato.
• For carbs, add carrots and carrot peelings and fresh or fresh frozen apples.
• For green, add broccoli stems and spinach
• For meat, use everything left on the bird (chicken or turkey) except the bones.

It takes a month or two to accumulate enough scraps from cooking, including complete chicken and turkey carcasses, with everything going into doggie bags in the freezer.  Then, when the freezer is bursting at the seams, we thaw it all out and blend it together in the Cuisinart, supplementing a little fresh carrot, apple or spinach, as needed.  I freeze it all in convenient meal-sized zipper baggies! There’s nothing in this blend but really tasty food, and The Skids go crazy for it! 

We supplement their “store-bought” raw meals with this very tasty treat.  It’s fresh and wholesome, I know exactly what’s in it, and they thrive on it.  But your dogs might be different.  We are not soliciting comments on our choices, nor are we recommending that anyone else do this, but for those who have requested ideas, here’s one we enjoy doing for our furkids! 

Enjoy!